Team Green was the surprise winner of qualifying for the 38th 8 Hours of Suzuka, round two of the 2015 FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC). The N°87 Kawasaki outpaced the Yamaha Factory Racing Team and Musashi Harc-Pro Racing Team machines.

In contrast to the other rounds of the EWC, the qualifying order for the Japanese classic is not based on the average of the three riders’ best laps. Instead, positions are simply dictated by the fastest time of each bike.

Given the 84-strong entry, the riders were split into two groups for the session, with the five fastest teams in each group going on to take part in Saturday’s Top 10 Trial shootout which will decide the first 10 places on the grid. Teams have to nominate two riders each for a single flying lap and the slowest of the pair starts the race.

The surprising Kazuki Watanabe established a new EWC track record by bettering Takuya Tsuda’s 2m6.703s set in 2014’s ‘super-pole’ session. His effort of 2m6.656s put the N°87 Kawasaki firmly on provisional pole.

Yamaha Factory Racing Team (Espargaro/Smith/Nakasuga) was second best with a 2m6.877s (Nakasuga), but Pol Espargaro fell in the second session. He escaped unhurt but the N°21 Yamaha sustained severe damage.

The best-placed EWC-registered team was the race’s 2012 and 2013 pole-winner, YART (Parkes/Silva/Morais). Broc Parkes’ lap of 2m8.973 was the sixth-fastest in Group A, spelling the end of his team’s qualifying bid, even though the Australian would have come fourth in Group B!